Opinions on our HomeBuyer report please?

moodysocks

Hiya,

We are FTBs and we just had our survey done. The house is one built approx. 5 years ago, semi-detached. The survey raised perhaps more issues than we were expecting considering the age of the property (honestly they seem like things that should be general maintenance to a homeowner). As we have never bought a house before, I'm not sure how many of these are 'normal' expected issues and what we should actually address with the vendor pre-exchange. The issues are below:

- Ensuite extractor fan is becoming detached from the vent in the roof and need reattaching (we don't know if the fan actually works)
- Electric meter box is completely destroyed and needs replacing
- Manhole cover in the driveway is damaged and needs replacing
- One of the radiators in the bedroom is loose from wall and needs to be reattached
- As far as we know the boiler (5 years old) has never been serviced. Is this an issue?

There were a number of other more minor issues as well, the ones above were the main ones.
Would appreciate some input, thanks

SameOldRoundabout

Minor things really. Why is the electric box damaged? And who replaces a manhole cover, owner or waterboard? They’d be my queries tbh, the other stuff is very minor and just sounds like not very careful house owners. 

moodysocks

SameOldRoundabout said:

Minor things really. Why is the electric box damaged? And who replaces a manhole cover, owner or waterboard? They’d be my queries tbh, the other stuff is very minor and just sounds like not very careful house owners. 

The electric box is on the side of the house where the driveway is, I suspect she either drove into it or bashed something into it on the way to the back garden. Good point about the manhole cover.

SameOldRoundabout

Ah okay. Likely how the manhole is damaged too. You could give the suppliers a call to ask where you’d stand with getting both replaced (not sure where you are but where I am the electricity board sort out the outdoor meter housings) and who would be liable to pay. If them (the vendors), get them to sort that before you exchange. 

steve866

These are all very small issues. I would proceed with the purchase and I wouldn’t try renegotiate price.

AdrianC

moodysocks said:

- Ensuite extractor fan is becoming detached from the vent in the roof and need reattaching (we don't know if the fan actually works)

Probably no more than ten minutes, assuming the detachment's easy to get to (which it must be, else the surveyor wouldn't have seen it!)

- Electric meter box is completely destroyed and needs replacing
- Manhole cover in the driveway is damaged and needs replacing

But you saw that when you viewed, right...?

- One of the radiators in the bedroom is loose from wall and needs to be reattached

Turn that rad off, drain it down, remove it, fix brackets properly, refit, refill, bleed.

Easy morning's DIY, and anybody who doesn't remove rads when they decorate is a bodger.

- As far as we know the boiler (5 years old) has never been serviced. Is this an issue?

Not necessarily. Boiler servicing isn't like a car with changing the oil etc. It's more of a basic safety check - a look and poke to make sure nothing's damaged, and a check of the exhaust gases. Get it done when you move in.

moodysocks

AdrianC said:
Probably no more than ten minutes, assuming the detachment's easy to get to (which it must be, else the surveyor wouldn't have seen it!)

We are thinking similarly to be honest. I don't think any of the stuff is particularly worrying. I saw the meter box was damaged when we went round but hadn't quite appreciated how destroyed it was...The manhole cover looked cosmetic - the top layer of plastic peeling off - although the report says it's "damaged".

I've emailed my solicitor to see what he thinks, and I reckon we'll ask for the stuff to get fixed but with low expectations of it actually happening. I don't particularly want to renegotiate the price.

Might sound a bit sad for a grown adult, but my dad is helping us with our deposit and he's got a right bee in his bonnet, saying we should ask for a £4k (!!!) reduction because the boiler hasn't been serviced and might break down, and he's very difficult to disagree with.

sgun

When we moved last year we paid a local handyman £50 to level off and replace our manhole cover and frame, our electric box is still taped up with copious amounts of white duck tape. We had the boiler serviced ourselves during conveyancing - just do this, it'll show up any immediate faults. It might break down even if it had been serviced regularly. None of the issues on your report are worth reducing your offer for and certainly not worth worrying about.

davidmcn

moodysocks said:

Might sound a bit sad for a grown adult, but my dad is helping us with our deposit and he's got a right bee in his bonnet, saying we should ask for a £4k (!!!) reduction because the boiler hasn't been serviced and might break down, and he's very difficult to disagree with.

Is he normally this absurd? Any boiler "might" break down. £4k would probably buy two boilers.